France -- History -- Henry III, 1574-1589 -- Fiction
Indeed, many Calvinists assisted the duke, not from sympathy for him,
but in order to be as disagreeable as possible to Spain and to the
Catholics of France and England; they fought rather from self-love than
from conviction or devotion, and it was certain that, the campaign once
over, they would abandon their leader or impose conditions on him. With
regard to these conditions, the duke always gave them to understand that
when the time came he should be ready, and was constantly saying, "Henri
of Navarre made himself a Catholic, why should not I become a Huguenot?"
On the opposite side, on the contrary, there existed a perfect unity of
feeling. Antwerp had intended to give entrance to him, at her own time
and on her own conditions.
All at once they saw a fleet appear at the mouth of the Scheldt, and
they learned that this fleet was brought by the high admiral of France,
to aid the Duc d'Anjou, whom they now began to look upon as their enemy.
The Calvinists of the duke were little better pleased than the Flemings
at the sight. They were very brave, but very jealous: and they did not
wish others to come and clip their laurels, particularly swords which
had slain so many Huguenots on the day of the St. Bartholomew. From this
proceeded many quarrels, which began on the very evening of their
arrival, and continued all the next day.
From their ramparts, the Antwerpians had every day the spectacle of a
dozen duels between Catholics and Protestants; and they threw into the
river as many dead as a combat might have cost the French. If the siege
of Antwerp, like that of Troy, had lasted nine years, the besieged need
have done nothing but look at the assailants, who would certainly have
destroyed themselves. Francois acted the part of mediator, but not
without great difficulty; he had made promises to the Huguenots, and
could not offend them without offending at the same time all Flanders.
On the other hand, to offend the Catholics sent by the king to aid him
would be most impolitic. The arrival of this re-enforcement, on which
the duke himself had not reckoned, filled the Spaniards and the Guises
with rage. However, all these different opinions interfered sadly with
the discipline of the duke's army. Joyeuse, who we know had never liked
the mission, was annoyed to find among these men such antagonistic
opinions, and felt instinctively that the time for success was past, and
both as an idle courtier and as a captain, grumbled at having come so
far only to meet with defeat. He declared loudly that the Duc d'Anjou
had been wrong in laying siege to Antwerp, and argued that to possess a
great city with its own consent was a real advantage; but that to take
by assault the second capital of his future states was to expose himself
to the dislike of the Flemings; and Joyeuse knew the Flemings too well
not to feel sure that if the duke did take Antwerp, sooner or later they
would revenge themselves with usury. This opinion Joyeuse did not
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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